


Shall we skate?

by Cartonsofcartoons



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, But not exactly, Humor, Instructor AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 00:15:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9408896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cartonsofcartoons/pseuds/Cartonsofcartoons
Summary: Viktor knew he had to get the skating instructor’s attention, but how?(Because sometimes I’m pretty sure that Viktor is the reason why blonde jokes exist)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based off [Aina Palm's](https://twitter.com/aina_palm/) beautiful [AU](https://twitter.com/aina_palm/status/821773342596272128/)

 

“We’re going to a rink?” Viktor asked Yakov. The older man’s vein throbbed in tune with the rhythm of his steps, brisk and hard on the pavement.

 

“I’m going to a rink. I don’t know why you’re following me.”

 

“Ah really, I thought we’d have a fun vacation but all you ever want to do is work, Yakov,” Viktor complained, stretching his arms out behind him, pin wheeling them. Incredibly excited in his prep to skate for someone who was complaining about going to a rink.

 

“This isn’t a vacation, you’re here for Oda’s skate show!” Yakov barked out trying to refrain from injuring his star skater in an ‘accident’.  “Irresponsible child!”

 

“Why are we going to this rink anyway, the one for the event was just fine?”

 

“ _I_ am going to my new skater Yuri’s home rink so I can see him in his normal element. _You_ are just following me like a damn puppy.”

 

“Ah lighten up old man, I’m sure Yuri’s just fine.” Viktor tuned out the rest as Yakov kept on yakking about taking his competition seriously to think about what his coach had just said.

 

He didn’t know that Yura had a home rink in Japan. Then again, Yuri didn’t like to talk about his past. Only about cats and how he’d kick Viktor’s ass and to choreograph his damn routine already. All that boring stuff that Viktor was choosing to forget.

 

It would be fun visiting Yuri’s home rink. Maybe they’d be like Viktor’s old rink and have his old posters up everywhere. Maybe something embarrassing from Yuri’s junior days? Ah, Viktor was so lucky he never had any bad pictures.

 

The rink was full of people when they arrived but no Yuri anywhere to be seen. Yakov made a beeline for an emptier corner of the rink where there was apparently a skating lesson going on. A young man, in great shape, something he could tell even from that distance, was instructing a set of triplets and a couple of other children. One of them wandered away at a high speed, the instructor taking off to round his unruly student back, and that was when Viktor looked at him properly.

 

It wasn’t anything complicated or anything. He was just herding the wayward boy back to the group, his hands firm on the kid’s shoulders while he glided behind him, skates never leaving the ice.

 

But something in the way he moved was mesmerising. The sway of his body, the tension of his back amalgamated to make such pretty lines. The closer they got the more Viktor liked what he saw.

 

The sparkle of the eyes, the easy, soft smile, even the glasses. He was so _pretty_.

 

Viktor would have him. But how?

 

* * *

 

‘Oh my God, oh my God,’ Yuuri silently chanted in his head and eventually out loud. Yakov was coming over to see him but more importantly Viktor Nikiforov was coming too!

 

“Yuuko, I’m going to die!” Yuuri clung to his friend who patted the top of his head. He’d seen Viktor at the World Championship and the Grand Prix final where he’d missed Bronze by 2 points, sure, but he hadn’t had any time with his idol one on one, without a million cameras and reporters and fans to distract him.

 

“You’ll be fine Yuuri!” Yuuko smiled although her smile had a manic edge to it too. After all, Viktor had been her idol too. “But if you’re going to die so soon, might as well give the triplets and their friends that skating lesson you promised them.”

 

And so he found himself out there on the ice again, able to breathe. How did Yuuko always know what he needed? He calmed down talking the triplets down from trying the jumps they were named after, showed Kane (Axel’s obvious crush) how to stop on ice and exhausted himself chasing after Haruto who was apparently keen on becoming a speed skater and would probably do well at it if their little session was anything to go by.

 

It was just as he was taking a slight breather, near the edge that the voice that he had been waiting to hear of what felt like most of his life spoke. “Hi there,”

 

Viktor freaking Nikiforov was leaning over the boards, so close that Yuuri could tell the exact brand and flavour of the chewing gum he must have chewed.

 

“H-h-hi.”

 

Behind Viktor, Yakov sighed, grumbling under his breath about besotted boys and Yuuri felt the flush climb higher.

 

“Are you an instructor here?”

 

“Ahh, hahahaha, no, just helping a friend out.”

 

“Oh, that’s such a shame.” Viktor drooped leaning his elbows on the edge, looking up at Yuuri through his eyelashes. Yuuri was almost giddy with delight. Heavens, but Viktor was beautiful like this, only rivalled by the way he floated on ice, “I was hoping you could teach me to skate.”

 

And the fantasy crashed all around Yuuri. Hard.

 

“What?”

 

“I’m just so tired of being the only one of my friend who can’t skate.” Viktor turned lounging back against the edge dramatically, very reminiscent of the way he ended his 2012 free skate program. “They keep making me watch the King and the Skater and then making fun of me. Maybe some private sessions with a skating instructor will help keep them off my back.”

 

“You’re...asking _me_ to teach _you_ how to skate?”

 

Viktor Nikiforov, with his 42 medals in Figure Skating, of which 36 were gold and 2 were Olympic golds, was asking Katsuki Yuuri to teach him how to skate.

 

“Ah, how stupid of me,” Viktor said and Yuuri sighed in relief. He had finally realised what was wrong here, “I completely forgot to introduce myself, I’m Viktor.”

 

The man whose posters had been pinned up in his room since he was 11 put his hand out and Yuuri could do nothing but stare. Behind Viktor, Yakov’s jaw had dropped to the ground and Yuuri, well he was this close to tears.

 

Two years now he had qualified to be on the same stage as his idol, three different events where he’d skated as his competitor and apparently Viktor had no idea who he even was.

 

“Katsuuki Yuuri,” He introduced himself in a strangled voice, hoping against hope Viktor would recognise his name if not his face.

 

“ _Yuuri_ ,” The way Viktor said his name had him flushing, as if his voice was trying to caress every single syllable, “I know another Yuri, perhaps you’ve seen him around? He’s supposed to be from around here although he ska- lives in Russia now.”

 

Unbelievable, not only did he not recognise his name, he was now informing Yuuri about Yuri Plistesky, as if the boy hadn’t thrown a huge tantrum last year at the Grand Prix about placing below  ‘that shitty other Yuri by 1 point’

 

Viktor was still looking up at him with that ardent gaze and Yuuri sniffed trying to contain his feels. He had never been so humiliated, so angry and yet so turned on in his entire life. Yes, his entire professional career, all his achievements had been casually dismantled by Viktor’s dismissal but it was still intoxicating to be the sole focus of those blue eyes.

 

“Private lessons, huh?” Yuuri smiled. It was a smile that his family, or the Nishigori family or Minako-sensei would have recognised as being absolutely fake from a mile away.  “Tomorrow at the rink, 5 am. It’ll be empty then.”

 

“So you’ll teach me then?!” Viktor exclaimed, all shiny eyes and big grin and Yuuri laughed and if the sound had a hysterical edge to it, no one commented.

 

“You do seem like you’re in need of a lesson.” The words flew right over Viktor’s head but Yakov smirked and shot him an approving look, which was great. It was always good to be on the same page as your coach, Yuuri was sure he and Yakov would have a great professional relationship.

 

Viktor exclaimed something in Russian and placed a big sloppy kiss on Yakov’s cheek before flouncing off to places unknown.

 

“Girls,” Yuuri called out and the triplets skated to him before promptly getting distracted by Yakov, taking a million pictures of him while he dealt with them with the practiced ease of someone who dealt with Yuri Plistesky every day. “We’re going to have a special guest for tomorrow’s skating lessons.”

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

“And they call _me_ Russia’s fairy,” Yuri Plistesky said watching his senior by twelve years flutter around in his suite, “What the fuck’s got you so excited?”

 

Viktor grinned, “I’ve got a date.”

 

Yuri’s jaw dropped and he huddled closer to himself. The usual Viktor he dealt with was bad enough, now he would deal with a lovesick, high on pheromones Viktor.

 

Lord have mercy.

 

“Who was stupid enough to agree to go out with you?”

 

“Yuuri isn’t stupid!”

 

Yuri stared at Viktor in horror, “I never agreed to go on a date with you!” The only thing more horrifying than that thought was the high pitch of his voice when he’d said that.

 

“Not you, another Yuri. He teaches at your home rink.”

 

Yuri was pretty sure he’d never been this confused before, “You have a date with some Japanese guy who teaches skating in Moscow?”

 

Viktor laughed and Yuri growled at the condescending sound, “No, your home rink in Hasetsu,”

 

“My home rink is in Moscow.” Yuri bit out, annoyed. Of course Viktor was an asshole who didn’t know his hometown, why had Yuri even expected anything else from that shithead?

 

“Really?” Viktor makes that stupid surprised expression that makes him look like some manga character before pouting. How on Earth was this man considered a grown up while Yuri was stuck with people clapping their hands over his eyes every other minutes to ‘save his innocence’ during Christophe’s routines?

 

“Hasetsu’s that shitty _other_ Yuuri’s home rink.” Yuri hates that guy. He’s always weirdly nice and old. His technical abilities suck but his step sequences are kind of, maybe slightly beautiful. Those dickhead commentators always compare them because of their name, which is just bullshit. That Piggy still can’t land a quad Salchow like he can.

 

(And Yuri can’t do his sit spins or step sequences like Yuuri can but he’s going to ignore that.)

 

The silver haired fairy stops hopping and becomes so still Yuri wonders if he’s been replaced by a cardboard cut out. A valid concern seeing as how Viktor had stuck a cut out of himself in a balcony once to distract paparazzi.

 

“What other Yuuri?”

 

For a moment Yuri stares at him. Surely Viktor could not be that stupid and oblivious to the other competitors?

 

Yeah, he could.

 

“Yuuri Katsuki. He missed bronze by one point last year.”

 

Viktor blinked furiously, the smile weirdly fixed on his face, “In which competition?”

 

“The Grand Prix.”

 

Viktor begins to laugh then. It is a high, hysterical sound which soon dissolves into sobs.

 

“I’m an idiot.” He groans in between tears.

 

“Well, yeah.”

 

“Yuuri Katsuki’s joining us in St Petersburg, isn’t he?”

 

“Stupid Yakov agreed to take him on as a student,” As if it wasn’t bad enough that Yuri was stuck being the new Yuri in the competition now there’d be another Yuri during practices too.

 

“I really screwed up,” Viktor begins banging his head against the wall and Yuri eyes the man carefully.

 

“What did you do?”

 

It’s a good thing Viktor doesn’t have many friends. It means he has no choice but to confide in Yuri which means he gets to howl with laughter at the mess Viktor’s gotten himself into.

 

“You’re an idiot.”

 

“I know” He hangs his head like Makkachin when he’s been scolded. Yuri has never been this happy in his entire life.

 

“What are you going to do now?”

 

Viktor runs around getting ready to go stalk that other Yuuri as if it isn’t midnight. “I have to go find him and apologise.”

 

“So you’re going to go to the lessons?”

 

Viktor stops abruptly in the middle of shrugging his coat on. “He knew who I was.”

 

Yuri snorts, “Everyone knows who you are. You’re not exactly subtle or quiet.”

 

“No, I mean he knew I was lying and he still agreed to teach me.”

 

“The Piggy’s probably trying to mess with you.” For a moment Yuri almost felt proud to have the same name as Katsuki. He never knew the older man had it in him to fuck with Nikiforov’s head like that.

 

“Don’t you think he’ll feel better if he thinks he got his revenge?” Viktor wonders. “Yes, that’s what I’ll do, I’ll play along with his prank and then I’ll apologise.”

 

“That’s stupid. You should just tell him you know.”

 

“That way he won’t feel bad for messing with me when I tell him I knew that he knew.”

 

“Or he’ll just be pissed off that you jerked him around.”

 

“It’ll be a fun story to tell our grandkids one day, how I met their Papa!”

 

“You’re not listening to a word I say!”

 

Viktor completely ignored him, that dick, grinning and shooting him that stupid wink he always threw at the cameras. “Thanks for your help Yura, I don’t know what I’d do without your advice!”

 

“I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!”

 

* * *

 

It starts like this. Yuuri explains the plan to the triplets. They are totally on board especially if they get to take candid pics of The Viktor Nikiforov AND mess with him. Takeshi shoots him a look but moves on.

 

But Yuuko? She grins, “Oh wow, Viktor Nikiforov is trying to flirt with you!”

 

Which is why Yuuri is currently shaking at four in the morning, in a cubicle in the men’s room of Ice Castle like a leaf, because he is an idiot.

 

How could he have possible thought he could do this? How could he not have thought this over properly? Why did it take an offhand comment from Yuuko to point it out to him?! He thought over how to embarrass Viktor the way he’d embarrassed Yuuri, thought about exactly what to say to the triplets to keep them from instagramming every single moment of their class with Viktor.

 

But he’d completely forgotten to wonder why Viktor was doing this. Why he was pretending not to know how to skate, why he was flinging himself dramatically against the boards to display his best angles to Yuuri.

 

He wanted some alone time with Katsuki Yuuri. Viktor freaking Nikiforov was pretending not to know how to skate just to spend some time with him.

 

“Yuuri? Are you alright?” Yuuko’s voice comes and he realises that she has invaded the men’s room just to make sure he wasn’t hyperventilating himself to death.

 

“I think Viktor’s trying to flirt with me.” Yuuri whispers through the door, unable to actually face her.

 

“Yeah, that’s pretty obvious.”

 

“Viktor Nikiforov, whose posters I have had in my room since I was eleven, whose moves we’ve been trying to skate since we were three feet tall,  whose dog inspired me to get Vicchan, was trying to _flirt with me_.”

 

“And more,” Yuuko winks lasciviously at him, “I’m pretty sure he meant something very different when he asked for _private tuition_.”

 

Yuuri still thinks of Yuuko as the bright-eyed girl who held his hand to keep him from falling when he was a little kid. He forgets that she’s actually the mother of triplets whose sex noises Yuuri is uncomfortably familiar with because of the incident in the Ice Castle showers.

 

And the one in the onsen.

 

“Do you...Do you think he’s really interested?”

 

Yuuko’s face turns pensive. “Yes,” Something in the way she says it makes Yuuri prod for more.

 

“But?”

 

“But I can’t tell you if his interest is something permanent.”

 

Fair enough, both Yuuko and Yuuri have followed Viktor’s life on and off the ice long enough to know that his ‘interests’ don’t seem to last long. And now, when he thinks that Yuuri’s just some random man in Japan while he lives in Russia, a man that he feels no compunction lying to...

 

“I can’t encourage it. Either he’s genuine in wanting something more and has no problem building a relationship on lies or he wants a fling and it makes things awkward when we become rink mates later on.”

 

“Oh, Yuuri,” Yuuko ruffles his hair, “It doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. And who knows, maybe once you’re both in Russia it’ll turn into more. For now just play along and...try to keep the triplets from live tweeting this.”

 

“Hey Yuuko?” Yuuri says tentatively. The rink is empty now, it’ll be a good half hour before Viktor and the triplets show up and he has something he’d like to try out, something he needs to get out of his system before it bursts out in front of Viktor himself “I want to show you something.”

 

* * *

 

Viktor can’t sleep. Ever since Yura told him about Yuuri skating in the Grand Prix on the same stage as Viktor he’s been obsessed. All night now, he’s just been looking at videos of Yuuri, his programs, his fan videos, his interviews everything.

 

And what he finds makes him feel shittier than ever.

 

Because Yuuri’s admiration of him is _so_ obvious. He’s even said that Viktor is the reason he got into skating and there Viktor was just hours ago, pretending like he couldn’t skate. It’s too much, too much to handle. Viktor just wants to go to Yuuri apologise and spend the rest of his life feeding him grapes.

 

It’s earlier than they were supposed to meet but Viktor can’t take it anymore and rushes to the rink anyway. The lights are on even though it must be closed and there’s no one there to stop him, so he goes in only to stop at the sight in front of him. At the other entrance, the one that must lead from the locker rooms Yuuri comes onto the rink, a pretty woman behind him. He hands her his glasses and skates into the middle, taking up a familiar position.

 

There is no music playing but Viktor is too familiar with it to need it to play over speakers. Yuuri takes a deep breath and _moves._

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

 

Viktor knows that he’s a bit of a flake. He would decide to fly out for a vacation out of the blue, bring someone back to his place even though there was a press barricade in place because he was hormy, decide to go off to Paris because he wanted macarons and more. Point is, he is an impulsive person. And it is purely impulse that had led him to ask for private lessons in skating from the cute Japanese boy.

 

But there he stood, hidden in the shadows, watching while the cute Japanese boy skated Viktor’s FS program. Stammi Vicino didn’t have to play over the speakers for him to hear it and for once one of his impulse decisions is remarkably on point.

 

Because Katsuki Yuuri  was skating like he was making music, the rise of his hand like a conductor of a symphony, beckoning the swell of violins. He didn’t need the words to voice his plea, it was obvious in the way he moved. Viktor knew he was a good performer but when Yuuri reached out, lonely, it took everything in him not to reach back.

 

And it may have started off as a play to flirt with him but Viktor would give  _ anything _ for Yuuri to teach him to move like that.

 

It’s just that he needs to win him over first.

 

* * *

 

“OHAYO YUUUUURI!” The wild yell broke Yuuri out of his musings. He turned to see that while he had been doing a few rounds of the rink, Viktor had arrived. His idol was waving his arms enthusiastically even as he stepped out onto the ice in the much bulkier rental skates that Ice Castle provided.

 

“I see you know how to get out onto the ice on your own.” Yuuri can’t help but say sarcastically, but Viktor seemed to not have noticed, still waving outrageously, “Stop moving your arms about like that you’ll lose your balance.”

 

Despite knowing that Viktor was probably the greatest skater in the world and the chances of him losing his balance was low, Yuuri still felt the need to help him.

 

And somehow this help resulted in him skating backwards while holding Viktor’s hands.

 

How was this even his life?

 

“You’re really good, Are you sure this you first time on ice?” Yuuri asked as Viktor all but led him in a dance around the rink, hoping he’d coming out and just say the truth, just say ‘Actually I’m a figure skater who’s medalled gold multiple times and am known for the technical difficulty of my programs.’

 

“Positive,” Viktor all but sings and Yuuri’s smile becomes fixed on his face. As if to make his point obvious Viktor stumbles straight into Yuuri’s arms with an exaggerated, too-happy, “Oh no!”

 

A cough interrupts Viktor’s nuzzling into Yuuri’s collarbone while the younger man flushes bright red and they turn as one to see the triplets posing sassily on the ice.

 

(They’d spent ages practising that pose. It was straight off Mila Babicheva’s instagram with her in the middle with Sara Crispino on one her left and a clearly forcefully posed Yuri Plisetsky in a cat ear headband, sulking something fierce, on the right)

 

“I thought these were private sessions.” Viktor sulked and Yuuri took the chance to put some space in between them. As close as Viktor was he could probably hear how fast Yuuri’s heart was beating which wasn’t good considering the family history of heart problems.

 

“The triplets wanted to learn too and I’m only here for a while, you don’t mind, do you?”

 

“...No.” Viktor ground out if a bit reluctantly only to clutch at Yuuri’s hands again and turn the full force of his charm into  the most needy, clingy (adorable) look Yuuri had ever seen on anyone, “It’s just...I can’t skate on my own.”

 

“Ahahaha,” Yuuri laughed awkwardly, “Don’t worry, I have an idea.”

 

Which is how Viktor ended up skating while holding onto a chair. Yuuri had to look away from the sight before he gave himself away and just laughed to death and turned to the triplets instead, “Okay girls show me what you’ve got.”

 

The girls wanted to learn to do their namesake jumps the best they could and Yuuri would do his best to teach them.  They were already doing ballet with Minako-sensei and Yuuko had taught them to be comfortable with falling. Now, it was Yuuri’s turn to teach them how to dig in with their picks and throw themselves in the air.

 

Now, if only he could separate them from their phones.

 

“What are you three doing?” He asked them in a whisper. He wasn’t sure exactly how proficient Viktor was in Japanese but it was certainly better than he was expected to be, given his general comfort in interviews.

 

Their cameras were clicking continuously, aimed at Viktor who luckily, if his grumbles were anything to go by, thought they were just taking selfies.

 

“The man with six consecutive gold medals at the Grand Prix is at Ice Castle and we’re not even allowed to livestream it,” Axel whined and Loop and Lutz nodded furiously. “We have to share it with someone!”

 

“What are you doing?!” Yuuri grabbed their phones out of their hands and saw that they had messaged Yuri Plisetsky to come to Ice Castle to see something ‘amazing’ with an attached picture of Viktor holding on to the chair.

 

And Yuri had answered with a simple ‘ON MY WAY’

 

“Oh God, why? Now I have to babysit five brats.”

 

“Ah! Oh no!” Because of course Viktor chose that very moment to ‘accidentally’ crash into Yuuri and then continue to cling to him, “I keep falling!”

 

“You’re falling a lot, at this rate you’ll seriously injure yourself,” Yuuri sighed. Toddlers were so much easier to handle than man-children. “It’s a good thing Yuuko and I prepared for this.”

 

Yuuri hoped the triplets were taking pictures of this. He was sure that the look on Viktor’s face as he was handed the padded shorts and helmets was going to be the one thing that calmed him down when he got his performance anxiety before skating in competitions.

 

* * *

This was not what Viktor was expecting from lessons with Yuuri. Yes, he had probably pissed off the younger man with his stunt but Yuuri wa supposed to be a fan, why was he pushing him away. Should he just come out and tell Yuuri that he knew that Yuuri knew who he was? Surely it couldn’t be any more humiliating than this, skating in a pair of badly fitted rental skates, clutching a chair with a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads and and a pair of impact shorts on. All this while a bunch of six year olds skated literal circles around him, hopping and jumping, even doing spins while Viktor took baby steps.

 

With a sniffle, Viktor looked at Yuuri who was grinning down at one of the demon trio. Viktor wanted that gentle smile directed at him!

 

The prickling on the back of his neck alerted him to the fact that someone was watching him. It wasn’t Yuuri (much to his disappointment) or the triplets so he swung his head around, trying to figure out who was staring at him. 

 

And found himself looking at a shocked and dazed Yuri.

 

Who recovered from the shock very quickly to get his phone out and snap a pic.

 

“Oh shit,” Viktor muttered to himself as Yuri burst into hideous, hysterical laughter and his phone buzzed in his pockets. And then buzzed again. And again.

 

“You put this up on instagram didn’t you?” Viktor sighed while Yuri clutched the board to keep himself standing.

 

Viktor sat down on the chair he was using to skate with a groan.

 

Only for a loud splitting sound to fill the air as the padded shorts tore and he found himself the center of attention on ice as he always was but for very different reasons.

 

“Kill me now,” He muttered as the triplets burst into peals of laughter and Yuuri’s face turned red from holding back laughter and another click came from Yuri’s phone followed by more buzzing in Viktor’s.

 

This was just not his day.  

 

**Author's Note:**

> Differences in this AU:  
> -Vicchan is still alive and Yuuri isn't the amazing skater that he could be now, but he does well enough to qualify for the Grand Prix and he's decided to change his coach from Celestino to Yakov.   
> -Viktor thinks Yakov means Russian Yuri when he really means Yuuri in the beginning.


End file.
